This invention relates to a novel speaker system for a vehicle such as an automobile, truck, boat, aircraft, etc.
At present, speakers for a car stereo usually consist of at least two loudspeakers mounted in or under the instrument panel or in the front doors. The loudspeakers are mounted on the left and right sides of the car in order to produce a stereo image. In larger vehicles, loudspeakers may also be mounted in the rear doors to provide a more even sound throughout the car and to improve the stereo image at the rear seat. Loudspeakers may also be mounted on the rear shelf to further enhance the sound. Often the rear mounted speakers are woofers or sub-woofers to increase the bass frequencies. Such systems produce a less than ideal sound in a car, in that they provide for distinctively localized sources of sound and, further, do not meet a desired objective of providing sound which seems, to the listener, to fill the vehicle. Various methods have been utilized to meet this objective, which methods typically involve adding additional speaker(s) to the door panels or other locations. In fact, high cost multiple speaker systems may employ twenty to thirty speakers or more in an attempt to further improve the sound inside the car; but, aside from increasing the costs, they do not satisfactorily achieve the desired objective and in fact provide varying performance based on one""s position within the car""s interior. Such additional speakers are typically not located adjacent to the heads of the passengers. Further, the speakers, being located in door panels, dashboards and other accessible areas, are susceptible to malfinction and breakage, such as a result of contact with water and other fluids. With particular regard to speakers located in door panels, while they were, prior to the present invention, believed to be a necessity for satisfactory sound reproduction in a vehicle, they are looked upon with disfavor by the automobile industry, since they require the door to have a greater thickness and, therefore, more weight than a door in which speakers would not be incorporated. There are also perceived to be design deficiencies inherent when speakers are incorporated in a dash. In both the door and the dash, the speakers are not easily installed and require extensive engineering to provide brackets to hold the speakers and added fixtures and tooling for the doors. Removing conventional speakers from doors and dashes and placing them, for example, in the roof area of a vehicle would not be successful, since, because of their weight and bulk they would constitute a safety hazard, in the event of an accident, if placed overhead.
It is an object, therefore, of this invention to provide a speaker system which has excellent acoustical properties for the occupants of the vehicle, and which, because of its location, is more durable and less susceptible to damage and breakage than existing speaker constructions, and which is removed from the door and other troublesome areas of a vehicle. It is also an object of this invention to provide a speaker system that is located closer to the ears of the passengers to remove many of the difficulties passengers may have hearing the speaker output with clarity when the speakers are located in other parts of the car far from the passenger""s ears.
These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof together with reference to the accompanying drawings.
According to the present invention, the headliner of a vehicle, in addition to its standard decorative features, functions, when combined with other elements, as the diaphragm of a vehicle""s speaker system. In particular, the loudspeaker system of the present invention comprises a transducer capable of being excited by applied electric potential and a diaphragm that is driven by the excited transducer, with the diaphragm being comprised of the headliner of the vehicle. In addition, the loudspeaker system contains electronic means electrically connected to the transducer to apply electric potential to it. According to the present invention, an occupant in a vehicle will experience a system in which the sound is reproduced close to his or her head in a manner which seems to fill the vehicle""s interior with sound. With the entire headliner functioning as a diaphragm, the reproduced sound does not appear to come from a localized area but instead appears to fill the entire interior of the vehicle, and, hence, the stereo image and sense of spaciousness of the sound is greatly improved.